Project: Kate

About This File

Kaitlyn Anne Fox was my best friend. Now she's gone. Her sudden departure has punched a hole in my soul. The community has lost a beautiful imagination and an undeniable talent.

During the course of the five years that I came to know her personally, I made maps for her birthday on two occasions - these are the first two maps in this set. The third map was made after her passing. An outpouring of emotion went into this map's creation, and it may be a bit "heavy", for want of a better word, especially for those who were at all close to her. Just a warning there, I guess.

Rest in peace, my sweet Kate. I already miss you like nothing else. I loved you. I still do. I love you so fucking much.

Description : Kaitlyn Anne Fox was my best friend. Now she's gone.
Her sudden departure has punched a hole in my soul.
The community has lost a beautiful imagination and an
undeniable talent.

During the course of the five years that I came to know
her personally, I made maps for her birthday on two
occasions - these are the first two maps in this set.
The third map was made after her passing. An outpouring
of emotion went into this map's creation, and it may be
a bit "heavy", for want of a better word, especially for
those who were at all close to her. Just a warning there,
I guess.

Rest in peace, my sweet Kate. I already miss you like
nothing else. I loved you. I still do. I love you so
fucking much.

Game : Doom 2
Single Player : Yes
Cooperative 2-4 Player : Yes but untested
Deathmatch 2-4 Player : No
Other game styles : No
Difficulty Settings : Yes

* Construction *

Base : New from scratch
Build Time : Perhaps a week or two of mapping in total
Editor(s) used : Doom Builder 2, GZDoom Builder, SLADE, Paint.NET
May Not Run With... : Any version of GZDoom previous to 3.2.4.

* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY NOT use the contents of this file as a base for modification or
reuse.

You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with no
modifications. You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS,
Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact. I have
received permission from the original authors of any modified or included
content in this file to allow further distribution.

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yes, jimmy does know how to make difficulty just right. I believe that I have already said that when I reviewed another of his maps. but anyways, this mapset is pretty much above average regardless of who it was dedicated to. for three maps, the gameplay is pretty decent, well the cue for jumping could be made more obvious on the third map, but it works out fine anyways. a nice tribute.

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Well...first of all, the message conveyed to Kate in this wad is clear enough, even if many players or users don't know of her, which is nice. With that being said, time to analyze the maps.

The look of the maps are what makes this mapset a nice looking experience. I really liked the looks of some items, it makes it so adorable but the maps are that but adorable. The first map serves as a sort of introduction for what comes ahead. There's also that new weapon which replace the plasma...that was a really cool weapon. Perfect to kill durable monsters or take them out several monsters at once.

Traps that aren't hard to get caught, medium difficulty (Jimmy likes to make the maps balanced which players can appreciate that) and some nice music can be enjoyable for the rest of the maps (I liked the music of the last map).

Ah...talking of the last map, there are some gripes that are worth mentioning. The heart platforming can be frustrating if the jumps are not timed correctly and dying a lot...not the ideal way to stop a player. Maybe doing a teleport action instead of killing the player might be more.....apt. Next? the archies...if the player doesn't know the advantages of the archie's attack mixed with invulnerability and kill them instead, the player will be forced to kill himself or cheat, which is also not ideal I'm afraid.

I know that's a tad late for some future updates but....who knows :)

The very last area where there are rainbow clouds and that sprite goes back to the main purpose of the wad...which is to remember and convey the mapper's feelings to her, as a farewell. And, I'll admit, it was touching.

Soulsphere? Ok. 4 barons with a death exit? That surprised me :D

Overall, it's a good mapset which I can recommend to other players to try it themselves and also...enjoy your life at the fullest...unexpected situations can happen before you know it, so cherish it as long as you live. Thumbs up!!!

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I really love the usage of colors in these maps. All the different purples, pinks and blues manage to evoke a real Eastery feeling. At least for me, anyway. The musical selections also really compliment the visual designs.

First two maps are good, clean demon slaughtering. Everything works excellently and is finely tuned. But I have to be honest, the third map just wasn't my bag. I get that its design quirks are fully intentional, but the challenges presented by said quirks simply weren't to my enjoyment. I also found the ending to be a bit unexpectedly dark.

As an intensely personal passion project, I don't think any numerical score could do something like this proper justice. I can't even imagine just how much emotion you went through making these maps, but it really shows. You've got a big heart, Jimmy, and we all benefit from having you here. I'll keep your friend's spirit in my thoughts tonight.

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Like others, I wasn't fortunate enough to have crossed paths with Kate. Curiosity made me try this little project and I cannot express enough what an immensely beautiful tribute this project really is. I'm sorry for everyone's loss, and to Jimmy - that was a beautiful letter to Kate in the secret area.

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File Reviews

I guess this was meant to be a serious wad, just using a trick to make the C-Demon hard to see. I don't think it was a deliberate troll of the style that caught on later, eg Sand Chain and the Terry wads. IMHO it nowhere near holds the record for "worst wad ever" (even if it did once) so it is now "over-rated" in that respect. I was a bit disappointed, I was expecting worse LoL.

Doomers these days have varying levels of patience. I know I have some of the worst when it comes to quickly finishing areas and moving on, which is why I prefer shorter levels most of the time. this particular map, a Maximum Doom map by the way, is one that completely tested my patience.
this is 8 levels long, from E1M1 to E1M8, and is sort of a proto-slaughtermap episode replacement. every map here has at least 200 monsters, and the layouts of each say that they are compact in size. so the action would be pretty good and fun right?
WRONG
while it's fun to kill all these enemies, this is honestly horribly balanced. on the first level, you only really get a shotgun and a chaingun, and it took me a while to get just one armor too. is that the worst part? I can actually enjoy the challenge of such a gameplay scenario so no. what's problematic about each and every level in this wad is that when you're not killing enemies, you're just sort of fucking around. in other words, you're switch hunting. but this is the worst kind due to lifts that have zero indications that they are lifts, as well as switches that have zero indication of what they did. not to mention some walls are triggers, when they really don't have any indication that they really do anything. oh yes, and mandatory secrets and backtracking. I would like the combat more if it gave more weapons too, not one plasma gun or BFG in sight, and all that backtracking just...fucking...headdesk. there's no reliable way to even speedrun this, to the point where I wonder if the author ever realized that other's would tire the fuck out over it. "these are the easy ones" this has all the hallmarks of a bad Maximum Doom map.
it's amazing how varied my Maximum Doom experience is so far. there are some really fun maps, mediocre but quick maps, and some long and nasty ones. I'm honestly trying to avoid reviewing any maps from there but i'll make an exception for this particular one since it's just unbelievably bad.

More an exercise in 3-d artwork than a game. Just someone's bedroom with a HK in a tiny lobby outside the door, and a Caco in a tiny yard outside the window. A BFG and Invisibilty Sphere are also in the yard but you can't get out there. I think the name is a clue - maybe this was the start of a bigger level, then abandoned. He ought to have allowed it as a base for development.